A/N Even though I got only two reviews (nadiyahill1997 and RoseSilver999—thanks to you both!) I've wanted to write a story like this So enjoy chapter 2! And check out my Facebook page Ally Carter Fandom. And my story 'Falling For Her' just a few chapters left!

P.S. CONTAINS UNITED WE SPY SPOILERS

~Alex

Lauren POV

I'm alone as I write this. Well, I'm usually alone anyway. It doesn't help being back to the Gallagher Academy three weeks before everyone else with just my grandmother (Rachel), my grandpa (Joe Solomon) and sometimes my paternal grandfather (Edward Townsend) comes by to challenge Grandpa Joe to a sparring match which is always fun to watch.

I hear a sound above my little crevice, signaling that everyone else has started to arrive. I slowly slink out of my little hiding spot so no one else can find it, then tiptoe upstairs to my roommates and my room and let the door open the slightest bit.

I see my best friend Megan there, unpacking all by herself. I slowly sneak out behind her, then put my hands over her eyes, and she immediately twists my hand, but I counter it, and use my leg to swipe her down then performed a Bazinsky Maneuver on her, making her fall down on the carpet.

My best friend grins up at me and said, "Way to go, Lauren dear," in a British accent she inherited from her mother (not to mention the fact that she was born and raised in Britain while Aunty Bex worked for MI6).

I calmly sit on my bed, blowing a bubble with the piece of gum I had snuck off her bedside table and say, "Are Ruby and Kaylie back yet?"

Ruby Anderson and Kaylie Winters are my two other best friends; and their mothers are my mother's best friends.

Just at that moment a blond blur flies through the door and flings her suitcase onto the bed, but misses and her suitcase lands on top of Megan's clothing.

"Hey, Ruby," Megan grins as our smallest and smartest roommate enters the room, her brown eyes shining like stars that comes after spending an entire summer in Florida with your parents and siblings.

"Hi," says Ruby, flopping down on her bed. "So, have any teachers given any extra credit assignments yet?"

Her voice sounds hopeful, yet dead serious, but I still smile as I say, "Sorry, Ruby, not yet."

Her face falls, but brightens again as a voice outside our door says, "Anyone going to be a dear and help me get this stupid suitcase through the door?"

Ruby jumps up and flings open the door, causing it to crash against the wall as our fourth roommate enters the room with at least four suitcases at hand.

I grin at Kaylie, "Isn't that a tad too much clothing before the start of school?"

She just rolls her beautiful blue eyes at me. "Nope. I wanted to bring at least fifty other T-shirts and a lot of skirts and heels, but Mom said no."

"Thank goodness," murmured Megan, trying to pick up a suitcase and dumping it on Kaylie's bed.

I take out an expensive-looking perfume and spray it all around me and it lands on Megan's big brown eyes.

"I swear Lauren Ann Goode, if you even think of using that on me, you'll be facing a broken arm."

"Well, you see Megan Grace Newman, we all know I can take you."

"Oh, you're on."

"You know, I think Lauren is actually making sense for once," Kaylie grins.

"Ha. Ha. Ha. I'm laughing sooo hard."

"I can tell."

"Shut up."

I just love the start of school.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

"Who are we?" asks our headmistress, my grandmother, and the woman my mom swears I look like.

"We are the sisters of Gillian," we all say, even the newbies. This is…I think the 7th time I say these words at a Welcome Back dinner. It is the first semester of my sophomore year; the year when we actually start Covert Operations.

"Why do we come?"

"To learn her skills, honor her sword and keep her secrets."

"To what ends will we fight?"

"For all the days of our lives."

We all sit down, and my grandmother tucks a stand of dark brown hair (which, despite popular belief, I inherited from my dad's side of the family) and smiles at a room of a hundred girls waiting for her words.

"Welcome to a new year girls. Seventh graders, welcome to our sisterhood. You will find it will be a large adjustment compared to your previous schools', so I suggest you stay on task at all times. Just a few other announcements." Grandma pauses for breath, then continues,

" Sophomores, your Drivers Ed application forms are due by next Monday. Turn your form in to Madame Dabney. Juniors, your Biochemistry Explosives and Chemicals Safety Packet is due by tomorrow. Drop it off by Ms. Harding's office. Seniors, your senior pictures will be taken on September 19th, so make sure to get your evening gowns out. Congratulations to our seniors; I'm extremely proud of you. Have a wonderful year girls!"

We turn around, and, like Madame Dabney taught us, shake our linen napkins gently, and place them across our lap (Ruby never ever misses the chance to get extra credit points), and begin to converse.

"Sooo, Lauren, I heard that you took down a terror organization called the Ring of Sandulb?" says Melissa Baker, making sure her elbows aren't on the table.

I shake my head and say, "Melissa, all I did involving fieldwork was go on a mission involving an arms dealer in the Mediterranean with Megan and her parents."

"And I heard you were ambushed on that mission?"

"No, Melissa."

The rest of dinner passes by quickly, with everyone gossiping and talking about the stuff they did over break, and, of course, eating our five-star gourmet food courtesy of Chef Louis.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

"I. Am. Exhausted," says Ruby collapsing on her bed, but accidently hitting her head on her tremendous bookcase.

"I'm not," Kaylie grins. "What about a game of Truth or Dare, girls?"

Ruby and I groan simultaneously, but Megan grins at Kaylie like Christmas just came early. "All right!"

Kaylie takes out an empty bottle of this incredible Mexican soda called 'Jarrito' and I raise my eyebrows at her.

She shrugs. "I was thirsty on the plane ride back, and this seemed like the best to get." I just shake my head, but proceed to sit cross-legged on the floor of our suite, Megan on my right and Ruby on my left.

"We should invite the rest of the sophomores!" Kaylie says a grin lighting up her face.

"No way!"

"Yes!"

"No! No way, Kaylie Marie Winters! Never in a millon years!"

"So we're on full name basis are we now, Lauren Ann Goode?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"Both of you, chill out!" Ruby's voice sounded quite loud in that moment.

We both shut up immediately; It's no t that often that Ruby raises her voice, but when she does, watch out.

"Fine. Truth or Dare, Ruby?" says Kaylie, seating herself across from me. Ruby thinks for a minute, weighing the risks and rewards in the giant database that is her brain.

Finally, slowly and cautiously, she says, "Dare."

Let's get one thing straight. I am a trained spy that is supposed to be ready for anything (Not to mention the fact that I've been going on missions since I was old enough to talk), but a lot of people still manage to shock me to the extremes. Like Ruby, for instance.

Kaylie grins again and says, with a triumphant air, "I dare you not to do any extra credit assignments for a month."

Ruby gasps, and her hand goes over her mouth. "No!"

"You chose dare, Ruby dear."

"Yes, but I didn't expect something as horrible as that!"

"You have to do it, Ruby."

Ruby takes a big, deep, calming breath as if trying to clear away all bad thoughts and says, "Fine," in a slow, scary, frightened voice.

Kaylie grins in triumph, then Ruby turns to me and says, "Truth or Dare, Lauren?"

"There is no way I'm choosing truth after Ruby chose dare, so I choose truth."

"Jeez, no need to be so wordy, Laur."

"Get on with it."

"I dare you to break into your grandparents' bedroom and plant a camera and at least one bug."

My eyes turn into tennis balls. She. Is. Crazy. Break into my grandparents' bedroom? Easy enough, but planting cameras and bugs? Freaking impossible.

"I am not breaking into my grandparents' bedroom!"

"You chose dare."

"Yeah. An easy one, Ruby. Not an if-I-get-caught-my-parents-and-grandparents-will-k ill me scenario."

"Your parents wouldn't kill you."

"Yeah but then Mom and Dad wouldn't let me go on missions. And that'd be even worse."

I love going on missions; literally. My dad took me on my first mission when I was a year and a half old. My mom took me on my second mission when I was two years old. My 20-year-old sister (Nicole Cameron Goode) took me on her tenth mission, along with my eleven year old brother, Joseph Andrew Goode, known as Joey since our step grandpa's name is Joseph.

"Not. An. Excuse," said Megan's voice bringing me back to reality.

I took a deep breath and said, "What's in it for me?"

Ruby thought for about half a second and said, "The honor of knowing you managed to successfully place a bug in the bedroom of two of the best spies in the world aka your grandparents'. Also…you're grandma might be a bit useful in my latest experiment."

I cringed. "I don't want to know what you're experiment is," I told her. Ruby just shook her head, blond hair framing her thin face. A sort of triumphant look crossed her face as she said, "You see, I think I might have managed to hack into the CIA's top secret databases," —her gaze lingered over to me—"including the most top secret files of your parents."

I was still shaking my head. "No. There are some things we aren't supposed to know. All I need to know is my parents have done some pretty dangerous stuff. I just don't want to know what."

A sort of pained look crossed Megan's beautiful features. "Laur, when will you stop being so sensitive?"

"It's not being sensitive. It's being careful. But,"—I took a deep breath—" I will do the dare."

"YES! I'll go get the lock picking set Mum gave me!" exclaimed Megan, running off to look in her closet for her trust silver locks that Aunty Bex had once owned, and, I guessed, helped Mom break into top-secret places.

Ruby and Kaylie went to go get other stuff and I just sat on my bed, wondering what on earth I was getting myself into.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

"Mist, move up ahead," whispered Megan's voice in my ear. I was slowly inching along in the Hall of History, closer to my grandmothers' office that lead to her and Grandpa Joe's bedroom. Mist was my codename. I was see-through—I was there, but you never saw me—and I never ever got caught.

"Goddess!" I hissed as I heard Grandpa Joe moving closer to my position. I pressed myself against the wall, glad I had taken Kaylie's advice to wear all black—black contacts, black catsuit, black boots (luckily not high-heeled)—so I was unseen in the dark shadows of my sleeping school.

"Ouch!" came Ruby's voice through my ear. "Trojan Horse, can you keep it down?" I whispered, praying Grandpa wouldn't hear me. He didn't though, no thanks to my roommates, and simply continued on, probably to the Sublevels.

"Trojan Horse" was Ruby's chosen codename. It was absolutely ridiculous (but try telling her that) and she claimed Trojan Horses could disguises and break into computers invisibly, which was her talent. I was invisible in the outside world, Ruby was invisible on a computer. Kaylie and Megan…well Kaylie and Megan had never truly hidden.

I kept inching slowly along the wall until I finally reached the doorknob. I made sure to check for any alarms that might be set off when I opened the doorknob, but there were none. I pressed my ear to the door as hard as I could, considering the room was completely sound-proof. I took a chance and turned the knob slowly, and was met with an empty office. I slipped inside through a crack no wider than two feet and closed the door gently behind me.

I made sure to place the bugs in sort of obvious places—like the underside of Grandma's desk drawer, a bug in the hidden electrical outlet behind the bookcase, and one IN the bookcase in a copy of Art and War on page 279.

When I was finished I whispered, "Mission Success," into my comms unit, but Kaylie just said "Not just yet Mist, dear, you still need the bedroom."

"Just so you know, Leopard"—adding emphasis on her codename since I knew she hated it—"I'd like to see you try to bug the headmistress' room," I finished.

I could feel her smirk through to comms unit, "It's funner if you do it,"

"Actually, Leopard, funner isn't grammatically correct," I heard Ruby's voice through the comms.

"Ruby, now is not the time," came Megan's voice.

"Can you guys please shut up, seeing as I'm about to enter hostile territory?"

"Fine. Proceed, Mist."

"Thanks." I slid the tiny mobile bugs that Ruby had developed for the occasion under the door—they were camoflauged the same color as the floor so Grandma wouldn't see it—and waited.

"Kiddo, you're going to have to tell her sometime." It was Grandma's voice. There was only one person Grandma called kiddo.

Mom.

I heard my mother's breath through the phone line as she said, "Not yet, Mom. She deserves not to know…to…to have a bit of ignorance while she can."

Grandma sighed. "Whatever you think, kiddo. But I guess you're right. Lauren and Joey deserve not to know for at least a while."

My mother breathed deeply. "Thanks, Mom. I'll call you later, I guess; say hi to Joe for me."

"Bye, Kiddo."

Grandma hung up and sighed, and I carefully slid the bugs back over to my side, and slowly exited the room.

Just as I was running down the Hall of History, I ran into Grandpa Joe. He looked strangely at me and said, "What are you doing up right now, Lauren?"

I breathed and thought for about two seconds and said, "Megan and Kaylie decided it'd be fun if they took my favorite sweater and yoga pants and hid it in a passageway, leaving me nothing to wear but a really short shorts."

I said it just perfectly, like Nikki and Mom and Dad had taught me, and even Grandpa Joe himself. He studied me again, and I guess he believed it, because he smiled and said, "Good luck finding your clothes."

I breathed a small sigh of relief as he walked down the hallway and in my voice I heard, "Nice cover story, Mist."

"Thanks," I said, but wasn't thinking of my cover or my almost-fatal encounter.

I wasn't thinking.

A/N So, how was it? It took me AT LEAST an hour to write, so I hope you liked it

Total Words in Chapter: 2,502 and 11 pages on Microsoft Word with Times New Roman 12 font

Review?

~Alex